At the Same Level

At the Same Level O n March 31, 1981, newspapers across the world had the same bold headlines: ‘Murderous Assault on American President!’ A young man had fired six bullets at the then President of America, Mr. Ronald Reagan. One bullet hit his lungs. Mr. Reagan was rushed to the hospital. He was in a bad shape, having lost much blood. But owing to the timely medical help that he received, he survived. Before becoming the American President, Mr. Reagan had been a film actor. He proved unable to obtain much of a position in the film world. After this, he entered politics, and in 1980, he was elected as the American President. When he was recovering in hospital, he said to the doctors and nurses: If I’d got this much attention in Hollywood, I would never have left! (The Hindustan Times, April 1, 1981) The person who had shot at Ronald Reagan was a man called John Hinckley. He had fallen in love with a young film actress named Jodie Foster. He would send her letters, but she did not pay him any attention. Finally, a day before he attacked Mr. Reagan, he wrote a letter to her, saying: Now you’ll know who l am. (The Hindustan Times, April 2, 1981) By firing those bullets at Ronald Reagan, John Hinckley, whom virtually no one then knew, suddenly shot into headlines of all the newspapers of the world. All the television